Since 1974, when the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) was passed, there has been substantial growth in United States pension and profit sharing plans. ERISA mandates numerous rules which result in greater assets being held in trust for eventual retirees. Common law precedents also apply to taxable trust investment accounts.
All these trust assets cannot be accessed by companies and public bodies. They are to be invested solely for the benefit of the participants. Various investment managers acting for the trust fund committees invest primarily in stocks, bonds, and cash.
Twenty years ago, trades by individual investors constituted approximately seventy percent of the trades on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). In 1989, trades by pension funds and mutual funds now constitute approximately seventy-five percent of all NYSE trades. Selecting the right stocks and bonds has become extremely important because of the need for retiree payments.
Trust committees meet frequently to review asset allocation and the performance of their investment managers. Numerous consulting firms have been formed to supply advice and to assist the committee decision-making. Due to the complexity of relevant investment information and the magnitude of sums involved, it is desired to development a system for automating, to the extent practicable, the conduct of this type decision-making.
Prior developments in this field may be generally illustrated by reference to the following patents:
______________________________________ Patent No. Patentee Issue Date ______________________________________ 4,694,397 Grant et al. Sep. 15, 1987 4,674,044 Kalmus et al. Jun. 16, 1987 4,642,768 Roberts Feb. 10, 1987 4,346,442 Musmanno Aug. 24. 1982 ______________________________________
There is no product similar to or the same as the method and apparatus of the present invention, which provides an investment management system that builds from the best performing investment managers.
A product known under the service mark ALPHA AMPLIFIER, available from John Hancock Company of Hartford, Conn., builds from the existing stocks held by pension plans and is not related to the present invention other than in the general goal of guiding investment decision-making.